Stay
by Eternally Seventeen
Summary: It isn't easy to say goodbye; but when it's all over and there's nothing left, goodbyes are all we can remember. / Lily doesn't want James to leave, but she's pregnant and he's the Wizarding world's best chance. At least, he was. -Oneshot-


Written for: The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 12 - Write about your OTP saying goodbye. **James/Lily is my OTP!**

Also entered in: The Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge - OTP.

**AU-ish!**

* * *

**Stay**

* * *

A single ray of weak sunlight escaped the blinds and shone over the intertwined feet of the couple cuddling on the bed, highlighting the dust motes that swirled on and on. Her toes curled with the cold and she pressed herself further into his side, never wanting to trade the delicious warmth for anything else. Her swollen stomach ached with the fatigue of constantly carrying her baby around and she would have honestly given anything to stay in bed the whole day. The whole _week_, in fact.

"Mmmm." James' sleepy groans shook her out of her reveries and she stared sleepily at her husband's sleepy face as her arm tightened around his back on its own accord.

"Lil?" He murmured groggily, peering around for a clock. He was only vaguely conscious, but a nagging feeling in his head told him that he had somewhere to be, something to take care of.

"Don't go," she whispered softly, and her feathery breath tickled the back of his ear. He turned around gently just then, taking extreme care of his wife and baby as repositioned himself to face Lily.

They stare into each other's eyes for a while, hazel into emerald, and emerald into hazel and watched themselves as they each got lost in the other. Lily wrapped an arm around James again, pressing the gentle swell of her belly into James' sculpted stomach and he sighed with contentment as he ran a hand through her unkempt tresses.

"You know I have to," he responded softly, trying with every fibre of his being to be the stronger one, to banish the disappointment that threatened to shine in his eyes. He cupped her cheek with his palm, rubbing soft circles into them with his worn thumb. She caught his hands in hers and leaned into him, claiming his lips as hers.

They stole kisses, denying the ticking clock it's satisfaction by refusing to acknowledge the seconds that trickled past into minutes.

Her hands roamed greedily over his hair, his tantalising jaw line and sculpted arms as her lips grazed his chest with little kisses. He shivered in delicious pleasure as he trapped her in his embrace, longing for this moment to last forever.

The alarm blared jarringly just then and Lily shrieked. "I'm going to break that thing, James!"

He shook his head unhappily. "I don't want to leave you," he said, and she heard the words rumble from his chest. She refused to loosen her grip on him, however.

"Can't you ask Sirius to wait for just a little longer?" She pleaded, unwilling to leave her pleasant roost where she was, unconsciously, half suspended in denial.

But the bed was already turning cold as she imagined spending the rest of the day alone in their little house with nothing save the newspaper and some tea for company, and she wanted to tear her hair out with frustration. It wasn't just the house arrest that bothered her – no, if she had to spend weeks together at home, she would have gladly done so; _provided she had James by her side_.

She mulled over the rather delicious idea of spending weeks together with only James for company and her lips curved into a grin at the thought. She snuggled closer to James, who hugged her tight and planted kisses on her forehead.

Her stomach grew cold with dread as she read them as the signs of an impending goodbye, and she absently wondered what was getting her overly emotional that day. She had been forced to spend plenty of solitary time that month as her pregnancy advanced, along with Voldemort's bloodlust and she knew that her husband was one of the best chances the Order had.

"Okay, okay," she grumbled, loosening her vice-like grip on his forearm. James hugged her close and rolled off the bed nimbly, already turning the shower on.

"Alright, you don't need to seem so eager to leave," she muttered under her breath as she slowly left the bed and ambled towards the kitchen to fix him some breakfast.

"Oh, brush first!" she exclaimed. In her half-dazed state she'd absolutely forgotten. She walked back into their room and was greeted by the sight of her husband in nothing but his towel, and her stomach clenched. _She wanted him_.

He watched her eyes greedily drink in the planes and angles of his wet torso and grinned. Walking over to her, he enveloped her in a damp hug and she squealed as he pressed his dripping head into her shoulders.

"Aah! You're _cold, _James!" she exclaimed, now thoroughly awake.

"That was just your wake up alarm, sweetheart," he grinned salaciously as he pressed his cool lips to her warm ones. And then they were lost again, enveloped by wisps of lust and flames of love that slowly melted the dregs of their awareness.

* * *

"Promise me you'll be safe," she whispered to him as she did yesterday, and the day before, and every single day that she was forced to see the love of her life walk away from her.

"You know I'll see you in the evening, alive and healthy," he promised seriously, hugging her tight. Their eyes shone with tears they knew they wouldn't shed before each other and Lily just drank in the image of her husband, feeling the love blossoming deep within her for his tousled hair and the roguish smile he now shot her.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

"Ouch. Wow."

A sudden dizziness claimed her and she teetered over a little.

"Lily!"

James rushed towards her and steadied her by the shoulders, eyes growing huge with fear.

"Are you alright? Should I take you to Mungo's?" It had been five months, but James was still uncertain when it came to matters concerning her pregnancy.

But she grinned at him, holding her stomach. "The baby kicked," she whispered in awe.

James looked at her blankly.

"He kicked me, James, for the first time ever! Here," she placed his hands enthusiastically over her protruding stomach and waited.

And waited.

"So maybe she's being lazy," Lily said sadly when they felt no kick poke at their hands.

"Or he," James added gently, but his eyes shone with love and relief all at once.

"Okay. Now leave before I decide to never let you out of my sight again, or worse, before Sirius comes battering at our door," Lily giggled. "James, don't forget your wand!"

He grabbed everything he had to and jogged through the doorstep. He had to escape the protective wards to apparate.

"I love you," he mouthed, turning around for the last time.

"I love you, too!" she called out, already missing him.

* * *

Neither of them ever expected that to be their last goodbye, their last touch, the last morning they woke up intertwined.

James wouldn't get too feel the kick of his baby (who happened to be a boy as he'd wanted, after all).

And all Lily could do was hold on to memories of a morning when the dust swirled on and on above intertwined feet and she'd playfully threatened to never let James out of her sight.

She cursed herself every minute for letting him go.

* * *

_Fin_


End file.
